Introduction to Scriptures of Hinduism
There are basically two kinds of sacred writings in Hinduism - 'Sruti' and 'Smriti'.
Sruti means that which has been heard, perceived, understood or revealed. It is the oldest and the most sacred of the Hindu’s scriptures. The Sruti is divided into two main parts. The Vedas and the Upanishads and are considered to be of divine origin.
Smrti is not as sacred as the Sruti, but it is yet considered to be important and is popular with the Hindus today. Smrti means memory or remembered. This Hindu literature is easier to understand because it speaks about the truths of the universe through symbolism and mythology. The Smrti are not considered to be of divine origin but are human composition which regulate and guide individuals in their daily conduct and lists rules governing the actions of the individual, the community and the society. They are also known as 'Dharma Shastra'. Smrtis consists of many writings including the Puranas and Itihaas.
There are several Holy Scriptures of the Hindus; prime among them are the Vedas, Upanishads and the Puranas.
- Veda:
It is derived from the word ‘Vid’, which means to know, knowledge par excellence or sacred wisdom. According to Hidnus, the Vedas are 'apauruseya' i.e.not of human agency, are supposed to have been directly revealed. There are four principal divisions of the Vedas: The Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samveda and the Athervaveda.
The Rigveda, the Yajurveda and the Samveda are considered to be more ancient books and are known as ‘Trai Viddya’ or the ‘Tripple Sciences’. The Rigveda is considered to be the oldest of them all. The fourth Veda is the Atharvaveda which is of a later date.
There is no unanimous opinion regarding the date of compilation or revelation of the four Vedas. According to Swami Dayanand, who is the founder of the Arya Samaj, the Vedas were revealed 1310 millions years ago and according to others they are not more than 4000 years old.
Similarly there is a difference of opinion regarding the places where these books were revealed and the Rishis to whom these Scriptures were given.
Inspite of these differences the Vedas are the most authentic of the Hindu Scriptures and the real foundations of the Hindu Dharma.
- Upanishad:
The word 'Upanishad' is derived from words ‘Upa’ meaning near, ‘ni’ which means down and ‘shad’ means to sit, therefore Upanishad means 'sitting down near', as groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him the secret doctrines.
According to Samkara, Upanishad is derived from the root word ‘Sad’ which means ‘to loosen’, ‘to reach’ or ‘to destroy’, with ‘Upa’ and ‘ni’ as prefix, therefore Upanishad means Brahma-knowledge by which ignorance is loosened or destroyed.
There are ten principal Upanishads, however some consider them to be more than ten. Some consider them to be eighteen.
The Vedanta meant originally the Upanishads, though the word is now used for the system of philosophy based on the Upanishad. Literally, Vedanta means the end of the Veda, Vedasya-antah, the conclusion as well as the goal of Vedas. The Upanishads are the concluding portion of the Vedas and chronologically they come at the end of the Vedic period.
Some pandits consider the Upanishad to be more superior to the Vedas.
- Purana:
Next in order of authenticity are the Puranas which are the most widely read scriptures. The Purana contains the history of the creation of the uniVerse, history of the early Aryan tribes and life stories of deities of the Hindus. The Puranas are considered to be revealed books like the Vedas, which were revealed simultaneously with the Vedas or somewhere close to it.
Maharishi Vyasa has divided the Puranas into eighteen voluminous parts. He also arranged the Vedas under various heads.
Chief among the Puranas is a book known as Bhavishya Purana. It is called so, because it gives an account of future event. The Hindus consider it to be the word of God and Maharishi Vyasa just being the compiler of the book.
- Itihaas:
The word 'Itihaas' means history. There are two major epics of Hinduism under Itihaas, they are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
Ramayana:
According to Ramanuja, the great scholar of Ramayana, there are more than 300 different types of Ramayana: Tulsidas Ramayana, Kumbha Ramayana. Though the outline of Ramayana is same, the details and contents differ.
Valmiki’s Ramayana:
Unlike the Mahabharata, the Ramayana appears to be the work of one person – the sage Valmiki, who probably composed it in the 3rd century BC. Its best-known recension (by Tulsi Das, 1532-1623) consists of 24,000 rhymed couplets of 16-syllable lines organised into 7 books. The poem incorporates many ancient legends and draws on the sacred books of the Vedas. It describes the efforts of Kosala’s heir, Rama, to regain his throne and rescue his wife, Sita, from the demon King of Lanka.
Valmiki's Ramayana is a Hindu epic tradition whose earliest literary version is a Sanskrit poem attributed to the sage Valmiki. Its principal characters are said to present ideal models of personal, familial, and social behavior and hence are considered to exemplify Dharma, the principle of moral order.
Mahabharata:
The nucleus of the Mahabharata is the war of eighteen days fought between the Kauravas, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu. The epic entails all the circumstances leading upto the war. Involved in this Kurukshetra battle, were almost all the kings of India joining either of the two parties. The result of this war was the total annihilation of Kauravas and their party. Yudhishthira, the head of the Pandavas, became the sovereign monarch of Hastinapura. His victory is supposed to symbolise the victory of good over evil. But with the progress of years, new matters and episodes relating to the various aspects of human life, social, economic, political, moral and religious as also fragments of other heroic legends came to be added to the aforesaid nucleus and this phenomenon continued for centuries until it acquired the present shape. The Mahabharata represents a whole literature rather than one single and unified work, and contains many multifarious things.
Bhagavad Gita:
Bhagavad Gita is a part of Mahabharata. It is an advice given by Krishna to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. It contains the essence of the Vedas and is the most popular of all the Hindu Scriptures. It contains eighteen chapters.
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most widely read and revered of the works sacred to the Hindus. It is their chief devotional book, and has been for centuries the principal source of religious inspiration for majority of Hindus.
The Gita is a dramatic poem, which forms a small part of the larger epic, the Mahabharata. It is included in the sixth book (Bhismaparvan) of the Mahabaharata and documents one tiny event in a huge epic tale.
The Bhagavad Gita tells a story of a moral crisis faced by Arjuna, which is solved through his interaction, as a Pandava warrior hesitating before battle, with Krishna, his charioteer and teacher. The Bhagavad Gita relates a brief incident in the main story of a rivalry and eventually a war between two branches of a royal family. In that brief incident - a pause on the battlefield just as the battle is about to begin - Krishna, one chief on one side (also considered as Lord incarnate), is presented as responding to the doubts of Arjuna. The poem is the dialogue through which Arjuna’s doubts were resolved by Krishna’s teachings.